Cyberpunk 2077 teaser snags the psycho

Posted January 12, 2013 - 13:55
by
CB Droege

Projekt RED is teasing a first look at its upcoming sci-fi adventure game.

In the near future, cybernetic implants are ubiquitous and stylish. They become a luxury good, no longer only for those with a disability of need for augmentation. Occasionally, a citizen who has over-indulged in these enhancements will have a psychotic break. They’ll come to the realization that they are more machine than human. The machine parts of them will take over in a grisly display of betrayal and murder, lashing out at anyone around them who is still more man than metal.

These ‘psychos’ are often to well enhanced for the normal police force do overcome, thus the existence of the Maximum Force Tactical Devision. Like a S.W.A.T. Team, the Max-Tac is a specialized cross-district unit of police officers who are called in for sensitive situations which they are specially trained to deal with. Called the ‘Psycho Squad’ by other police, the nickname isn’t just a reference to their targets. The members of the division are Psychos themselves; cyborgs whose hatred of ‘meatbags’, and violent tendencies have been redirected toward protecting the city from those of their own kind.

This is the premise behind Cyberpunk 2077, an upcoming game from Projekt RED. Like Projekt RED’s other recent projects - specifically, The Witcher Franchise - this title will be an action game with heavy role-playing elements. The plot will be non-linear, and the world will be open, and the RPG elements will be based on the Cyberpunk tabletop game system.

The teaser they’ve released attempts to capture a particularly powerful moment in the story, as well as show us how a new member of the squad might be found:

The visual style here is just incredible, but it also brings to mind the Dead Island trailer debacle. There is a certain amount of danger in creating such a beautiful trailer for a game that won’t look quite so cinematic once the players actually get into it. However, even if we just view this as a stand-alone short film, it’s pretty impressive visually, and definitely has me wanting to know more about the world this story is set in.

The game’s official synopsis is thus:

In Cyberpunk 2077, the player will be thrown into a dark future. The metropolis of Night City is a stage set to tell the tale of one individual, raised on the streets, who tries to lift himself up from the gutter and find a way to survive amongst boostergangs and megacorporations in a city of filth and sin. Drugs, violence, poverty and exclusion haven't disappeared by 2077, as people stayed they were for centuries—greedy, closed-minded and weak. But not only ghosts of the past trouble mankind, but new issues have appeared. Psychos go on rampages and the streets are filled with junkies addicted to a new form of entertainment—the braindance, a cheap way to experience the emotions and stimuli of someone else, someone living a more exciting life.

Cyberpunk 2077 is tentatively slayted for 2015, but the studio says that the real release date is "when it’s done." Projekt RED also says that they will have more to reveal on February 5, 2013, including an announcement of yet another open-world action-RPG game currently in development.